VALD Force plate and strength testing
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VALD Testing allows us to use state-of-the-art measuring equipment primarily used in elite sport and research, to capture information about your balance, symmetry and strength.
What is Force Plate testing?
There are 2 solid plates we get you to perform various exercises on. The plates measure your balance, symmetry between sides, strength and power throughout a range of exercises. At the end of the exercises, we can provide you with data on how you compare to other people of a similar age and demographic. It is a great tool for measuring your rehabilitation progress, reducing your injury risk and enhancing performance.
How long does the testing take?
It usually takes no more than 30 minutes to perform a battery of tests to give us all the information we need to provide you with a report. The testing involves simple exercises like, sing leg balance, squating, hopping and jumping. Some testing will take place on the Force Decks and some will require the use of a handheld dynamometer which also helps us to measure your strength in various positions for various muscle groups.
What to expect during testing
Introduction and warm up
A Physiotherapist will talk you through the testing process and take you through and short warm up before testing. This may involve a series of dynamic stretches, exercise bike or dynamic movements depending on what we are testing.
Testing
The tests may involve standing, balancing, squatting and jumping on the force decks as well as some resisted tests in sitting or lying. The movements are all easy to perform but you will be expected to try as hard as you can so we get a good measure of your true strength or performance. Mosts tests will be performed multiple times to get an average measure to ensure we get the most accurate results.
Reporting and analysis
Once completed, we can show you all the results of the tests and how you compare to people in a similar demographic to you. This detailed reporting shows us the differences between sides and how you compare to normative values. We can email you a report after the assessment and we will refer back to these results in future when we repeat the testing.
The advantages of strength testing:
- It gives us baseline measures on how well your strength and balance compares to your peers
- It provides us feedback on your rehabilitation progress
- It helps identify areas that you need to work on to prevent injuries